Archives are a precious resource for any company, and they can usually be used by several applications and handled by a number of people. The security problems connected with the archives mainly regard the aspects of data loss and non-authorized access to information. This second point related to data privacy and information security is of specific interest in the present document. Normally it is based on a centralized security capable of distributing the authorizations and the access modes. Generally, a profile is associated with every user whose access is controlled via password. However, it is known how the protection mechanism via ID and password has for some time been outmoded due to the dangers of intrusion that it presents. Among the most serious and dangerous access techniques, one need only mention sniffing as an example—this provides for the interception of the packet moving on the network in order to obtain its access and validation information, such as the key words, enabling codes or credit card numbers etc.
Another important aspect of the problem is the possibility to access the data through the Internet, e.g. by means of HTTP navigation services or FTP data download services. Since reference will be made below to applications of the finding in the medical/hospital sector, it is relevant to evaluate the inadequacy of some measures taken, starting from the most striking cases of this field.
A recent report by Cisco Systems indicated that one out of four administrators admitted having a security system “hole” in the last 12 months.
The theme of privacy has for some time been confronted by mammoths like Google and Microsoft. According to a recent estimate made by the same, since 60% of Internet navigators query the search engine to receive health-related information, a database so vast that collects the health information of millions of people would be incredibly valuable for Big Pharma marketing and would constitute an unacceptable monopoly of health information not bound by any law. Thus, both Google and Microsoft have produced services that allow managing the personal clinical file; however, from a study published in the British Medical Journal in the spring, which evaluated an experience similar to that proposed by Google and Microsoft that was activated by the British Health minister, it emerged that British citizens do not use on-line clinical health files since they fear that their data is not safe.
The scenario is therefore complex, and the Internet-based model is not appreciated for the above-described reasons. In addition, just the digitalization operation of all the image diagnostics, from the plates to the CAT scans, requires a significant expense, even if there will be a savings equal to half the sustained investment essentially due to the fact that the liquids required for film development will no longer have to be purchased. However, these costs are found on the balance sheet in another entry: data communication network. Transmitting a radiographic image involves long wait times and technology management costs.
It is therefore of fundamental importance to devise a solution that:
a—is not bound by the technical bias which states that the data archive must be localized and accessed via the Internet, and
b—restores, to the single user, the “physical” properties of the confidential information belonging thereto.
More generally, it should be noted that in the present context with the writing “auxiliary memory device”, reference is generally made to removable memory media capable of being preserved in environments protected from unauthorized intrusions and from possible damage to the same or to the equipment containing them. They can be inserted in a personal computer; they can be inserted in a Server machine; they can also be inserted in mobile devices (such as cell phones, disks, DVD/CD players, pen drives, removable hard disks, SD cards, PCMCIA cards, etc.) in order to allow their diffusion and management.
It is known that the information of confidential character stored on a portable electronic device has the problem that it can be viewed by anyone; even if security systems are used, these might well be eluded. In addition, the information displayed on a computer system can be easily duplicated and transmitted from one computer to another.
The object of the present invention is a system and related method for the controlled management and controlled diffusion of confidential digital information which ensures that the two subjects, each time they are interested in sharing information, are recognized by the system in an automatic and secure manner; in addition, the identify of both subjects is ascertained in an unequivocal manner, with no possibility of intrusion of third party subjects during the entire confidential information management step. It is required that each of the subjects simultaneously use their own electronic medium in order to be able to share the management and controlled diffusion of confidential digital information contained in the portable electronic medium.